Woodside/Pescadero/San Gregorio/Tunitas Creek Coast Loop, May 9, 2002

A nice, just over 50 mile ride to the coast, with just a few little hills in the way (see profile at bottom of page to see how hilly) Kevin Keenan making his way to the top of Old La Honda Road.  I finally made decent time at 21:43 (decent for me these days anyway!).
Mandatory photo of the Red Barn on Highway 84, just below where Old La Honda connects. The infamous Flamingo House!  There must be many, many hundreds of them all over the hillside. (Sadly, new owners removed nearly all of them in 2007)
Great place for fresh bread in Pescadero, if you arrive earlier than 10am.  If not... ...this bakery is the ticket!  Fresh pastries, breads, cheeses, etc.  But opens at 10am.
Riding past the cemetery on Stage Road, just as you leave Pescadero.  As you can see, this turned out to be a pretty nice day!  It had threatened to be a bit cold & breezy, but the coast was around 60-62 degrees, quite tolerable.  Had to take our jackets on & off a couple times, but life could be worse.  And very, very few cars.  The joys of riding on a weekday (Thursday in this case)!
 
This is all part of the set up to the photo below, just trying to get you to know where this is on Stage Road, not too far from Pescadero as you head north.  Seems like people miss the strange sculpture in the next photo, even though they've ridden past it many times!
And there, just to the left of the middle of the photo, is the notorious machine-gunning skeleton.  I'm sure there's a great story behind it, but don't know it yet, and don't know if I want to ask the occupants.
The San Gregorio General Store, where we met up with Deb, a customer who's into long distance riding, and a friend of hers. Tunitas Creek starts out with such tranquility!

But soon the road changes its tune and you begin to make the climb out of Shangri La.
   
On the left you see Kevin heading up the final steep part of Tunitas Creek.  This is a great climb in the summer, because it's always shaded and the creek that runs along the lower half is nearly always running.

My mapping program, De Lorme's Topo USA V3.0, severely over-estimates the total climbing at 8,000+ feet.  In the tables at the bottom of the page, I've isolated all significant elevation gains, and came up with about 5,400 feet.  An accurate figure for all climbing is probably around 6,000 feet or so, making this a ride climbers will enjoy, but not putting it beyond the capabilities of a fairly strong, average rider.

   
The route: 

Starts at Olive Hill & Canada Road, same place as the Tuesday/Thursday ride up King's Mountain.  Head south on Canada Road to the town of Woodside, across Woodside Road and south on Mountain Home.  Mountain Home runs into Sand Hill/Portola Road, where you head right (west) a short distance to the base of Old LaHonda.

Travel up Old LaHonda to Skyline and down the other side, where it dead ends at Highway 84.  Ride down 84 past the town of LaHonda and make the left turn at Pescadero Road.  Head up Pescadero Road over Haskins Grade (a major climb, even though it's not all that high) and down towards the town of Pescadero.  Somewhere around mile 21 or so is the Flamingo House, shown in one of the photos above.  It's next to a bridge that goes over the creek, and will be on your right.  As you near the town of Pescadero, take a right on North Street, which ends at Stage Road.  The bakery and town store will be just to your left, and definitely worth a visit.

Head north on Stage Road from Pescadero, and make sure to look for the house with the skeletal machine-gun-holding man!  It's at the end of a long straight stretch lined by trees on each side, as shown in one of the photos above.  Stage Road between Pescadero and San Gregorio has two good climbs, although neither is very steep and can be "challenged" if you're feeling good.  The Country Store at San Gregorio is definitely worth a look if you've never been there before, with a combination of bar, store and hard goods all in one place.  It takes you back in time quite a few years.  By the way, this is your last chance for water, and you're going to need at least one full bottle for the climb back up Tunitas Creek.

From San Gregorio you climb up the final section of Stage Road to where it intersects with Highway 1.  Somehow you're never expecting a good climb at this part of the ride, since you're so close to the coast (and getting closer!).  But climb you do, and it's a bit steeper than the other two climbs on Stage between San Gregorio and Pescadero (or maybe it just seems that way).  You end up on Highway 1 484 feet above the Pacific Ocean.  On a clear day, it's quite a view, but you don't get much of a look as you're heading downhill fast, across the bridge at the bottom and a quick right onto Tunitas Creek.

Tunitas Creek deserves a website all to itself.  There is very little in the first few miles to tell you that it's 2002 and not 1932 (which, coincidentally, is about the time it was last paved).  It starts out pretty tame but that doesn't last.  The real climb starts right when you pick up the creek on the right-hand side, and thank goodness for that!  Even in the summer there's usually enough water to make a friendly noise as you climb & grind uphill, and the complete tree cover keeps the climb far cooler than any of the other routes over the hill.  But, it does get steep, and if you're riding with others, it's one of those hills that doesn't take kindly to riding at someone else's pace.  The steep part is about three miles long, but the fun doesn't end there... not by a long shot.  The upper stretch, where it's gone from maybe an 8-10% grade down to 3-5%, seems to go on forever, and even those who've ridden the road many times before constantly underestimate its length, believing the end is just around that corner... or maybe that one... or maybe it's just up ahead.

You finally end up at the high point of the ride, the intersection of Tunitas Creek, Skyline and King's Mtn.  From here it's a fast descent down King's Mtn into Woodside, where after leveling out for half a mile you make a left turn onto Manuella, and after another half mile make the left turn onto Albion.  Albion dead-ends at Olive Hill with a stop sign, where you make a right and drop down the last little hill to Canada Road, where you started out some 51 miles ago.  This is one of those rides that makes you so glad you live on the SF Peninsula and marvel at how quickly you can get away from civilization!

Below we've charted out the significant milestones in the ride, noting the tops of each major climb, as well as places where you can find food & water.   --Mike--

 

Location Miles Elevation Climb so far (in feet)
Olive Hill & Canada (start) 0 438 0
Water & Food (Roberts Store in Woodside) .9    
Base of Old LaHonda 3.6 400 0
Top of Old LaHonda & Skyline 7.0 1675 1275
Highway 84 & Old LaHonda (west side) 9.1 1,095  
Water (La Honda fire station & store) 12.6    
Highway 84 & Pescadero Road 13.1 357  
Pescadero Road & Alpine 14.3 480 1398
Top of Pescadero Road  (Haskins Grade) 15.3 1054 1972
Pescadero Road & Jones Gulch 16.2 539  
Pescadero Road & small hill 16.8 732 2165
Water (Memorial Park) 18.6    
Water & Food (Town of Pescadero) 26.0 43  
Stage Road start of first climb 28.0 168 2290
Stage Road first peak 29.5 431 2553
Stage Road between two peaks 30.6 144  
Stage Road second peak 31.5 459 2868
Stage Road just prior to San Gregorio 33.1 52  
Water & Food (Town of San Gregorio) 33.3 68 2884
Highway 1/top of Stage heading north 34.4 484 3300
Highway 1 bridge/Tunitas Creek 35.8 65  
Tunitas Creek just inland 36.4 54  
Tunitas Creek start of main climb 38.8 303 3549
Tunitas Creek steepest part 40.8 932 4178
Tunitas Creek end of steep part 42.6 1614 4860
Tunitas Creek & Star Hill 43.6 1867 5113
Tunitas Creek/Skyline/Kings Mtn (top) 45.0 2067 5313
King's Mtn & Tripp Road 49.3 439  
Top of Olive Hill 50.6 503 5377
Olive Hill & Canada (start/finish) 51.0 438  

Last updated 09/03/07 Hit Counter since 05/06/05

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